Hate Crimes

A woman has been charged with committing a hate crime after allegedly spray-painting swastikas and anarchist symbols on the home of Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar, police said.

Bolingbrook police on Wednesday discovered the mayor's property and two other nearby locations had been vandalized with spray paint. Detectives quickly identified a suspect, who was taken into custody later that day and "provided a full confession," police said in a news release.

Authorities said Rachel Tuszynski, 29, of Bolingbrook was charged with committing a hate crime, threatening a public official, criminal damage to property and theft, among other charges. Police said Tuszynski also...

Related "Hate Crimes" Articles

A woman has been charged with committing a hate crime after allegedly spray-painting swastikas and anarchist symbols on the home of Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar, police said.
Bolingbrook police on Wednesday discovered the mayor's property and two...

A 27-year-old Midlothian woman accused of committing a hate crime at a South Side margarita festival last year was found guilty Monday afternoon of a lesser charge, misdemeanor battery.
Jessica Sanders, who is white, had been charged with felony counts...

Felony hate crime charges have been filed against a man who was caught on video unleashing a racist tirade and turning violent outside a Chicago Starbucks three months ago, officials said.
William Boucher, 24, was originally charged with misdemeanor...

Indiana lawmakers are already making waves preparing legislation in January that would bring stiffer penalties to people who commit bias-motivated crimes.
On Thursday, Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores, said he would introduce legislation that would...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Legislation sponsored by state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, to crack down on hate crimes against houses of worship and increases penalties for those convicted of committing hate crimes was signed into law on Tuesday.
"With...

After a quarter century on the job, South Elgin Police Officer Timothy Rothenbach will be retiring Aug. 25.
"It's been 25 years, and I am ready for the next chapter," Rothenbach, 55, said of why he's retiring.
Rothenbach said he came to his law...

Rainbow cookies celebrating diversity were among the items available at a recent fundraiser for an Arlington Heights church, which some say has been the target of vandalism this year because of its support for the LGBTQ community.
The most recent...

Following the fatal violence at a rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Va., the Southern Poverty Law Center released a map on social media last weekend that included Gurnee among 917 locations across the country where hate groups allegedly have...

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg took to his social network Wednesday to condemn white supremacists and pledged to remove violent threats and posts celebrating hate crimes.
"The last few days have been hard to process," Zuckerberg wrote on...

After a white supremacist rally in Virginia turned deadly Saturday, some Indiana lawmakers are hopeful that the state will make laws providing stronger protections against hate crimes.
"What happened in Charlottesville, Va., was a tragedy," Sen. Lonnie...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Wednesday that the Charlottesville car attack could be prosecuted as a hate crime, saying that federal authorities "intensely" probing the case could ultimately decide to prosecute the driver in a number of different...

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Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is repeating his charge that lower property...

The Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in suburban Minneapolis, like other U.S. mosques, occasionally receives threatening calls and emails. But leaders say they're more frightened after a weekend attack in which an explosive shattered windows and damaged a...

Prabhjot Singh Rathor entered the sanctuary and bowed low toward the holy book at the front of the room.
Prabhjot's father always told him that he must go to the temple every week, so here he was this Sunday, just like every Sunday and usually other days...

NAACP officials say their recent travel advisory for Missouri is the first that the civil rights group has issued for any state.
But the warning follows a recent trend of similar alerts issued by other groups for vulnerable people around the United...

Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is asking a judge to prevent a Glenview man involved in a 2011 fight that initially led to a hate crime charge from being hired as a probationary police officer.
Johnson and the city of Chicago on Monday...

The majority of hate crimes experienced by U.S. residents over a 12-year period were not reported to police, according to a new federal report released Thursday that stoked advocates' concerns about ongoing tensions between law enforcement and black and...

When Schmaltz Jewish Deli in Naperville was targeted in what police are classifying as a hate crime last weekend, owner Howard Bender had many options in how he could respond.
What he chose was to throw a party for his loyal customers and friends, who...

About 5,000 mourners attended Wednesday's funeral of a Muslim girl whose beating death, blamed by police on a motorist's road rage, has some people in her community fearing for their safety.
Some wearing Islamic robes, others in street clothes, they left...